Life in the Big City is a short story by Tara Gallagher that was first published in the 1986 CityTech rulebook. On 28 August 2006 it was made available for download as an individual PDF product via BattleCorps.

Contents

Generally, only MechWarriors are welcome in Maloof's. Technicians or infantry or support personnel spend their time elsewhere, so when a MechWarrior invites one to drink at Maloof's it is a mark of high respect. At the same time, they're somewhat conspicuous; so when they start telling a tale of life in the big city, others will listen...

At Maloof's Tavern on Rahway II, a House Davion world reserved almost exclusively for MechWarrior R&R, Frank Krieger and Abbey Farber, known as "possibly the best technicians around" and called "two of the best Techs in the Inner Sphere", join the MechWarriors of the Burrow's Crashing Thundermercenary regiment in celebration of their victory over House Kurita forces at Weehawken on Travis V. They draw glaring stares from fellow MechWarrior Williams, prompting another MechWarrior to narrate how they scrounged up spare parts for improvised repairs to his 'Mech (and others) on Torwind, resulting in 'Mechs with product advertisements on them from the truck trailers that were used to patch up the improvised armor. Williams' 'Mech had the line "Processed Chicken" running along both legs and the right torso.Later they talk about Locust pilots and how all MechWarriors - including Locust pilots - consider them to be the weirdest.

No timestamp is provided for the story. However, given that CityTech, published in 1986, is a very early BattleTech product and that the concept of lostech plays a prominent role, the story can be assumed to be set during the Succession Wars era, in or around the "classic" year 3025. The victory on Travis V that is celebrated by the MechWarriors took place in 3024 according to Technical Readout: 3025 (Stalker entry).